This invention relates generally to a repair and straightening apparatus and more particularly, in the preferred embodiment, to apparatus for repairing and straightening vehicle bodies and frames.
In the field of vehicle frame and body repairing and straightening, various types of apparatus are currently available. Several types of apparatus currently known to be available present serious limitations and deficiencies regarding the ability of repair personnel to work on both the front and rear ends of a vehicle. Presently, whenever it is necessary to work on both the front and rear ends of a vehicle, it is necessary for the vehicle to be turned in these apparatus to expose the damaged portions of the vehicle to the repair members of the apparatus. It is thus immediately obvious that such a cycle of repair-turn-around-repair is time consuming and thus of great expense to both the repair operator and the owner of the vehicle.
Further, types of apparatus presently known to be available which do repair a vehicle around its entire 360 degree periphery are complicated and expensive. For example, one such apparatus requires a working pit and the use of complicated structure for the positioning of the pulling members.
Therefore, there is a definite need in the art for a vehicle body and frame straightening and repairing device which allows several repair operations to be performed on a vehicle, including the repair of both the front and rear portions, without the necessity of removing the vehicle from the device, turning it around, and remounting it on the device.
There is also a definite need in the art for a vehicle body and frame straightening and repairing device which is flexible such that the repair force can be applied in a direction parallel to the direction of the force that caused the damage. Further the apparatus should be of a simple design, efficient, and easy to operate to reduce the amount of time and labor required for the repair of damages and to maximize the equipment and materials used.